Plates Program Goes Online to Increase Road Safety

Organization:

Government of British Columbia

Date:

December 12, 2008

PRINCE GEORGE – A new online tool will improve road safety by making it easier to identify and report unsafe driving of forestry vehicles and logging trucks, Forests and Range Minister Pat Bell announced today.

“There’s no room on forestry roads for aggressive or careless driving,” said Bell. “We can only correct unsafe driving if we are able to track the vehicle back to the responsible driver or company.

There are now about 5,000 forestry vehicles and logging trucks carrying special plates designed to help road users identify and report dangerous incidents.”

Originated by Canfor, the Vehicle Identification Number Plates Program was subsequently
adopted and expanded by Forestry TruckSafe. The program involves a special plate mounted to the front bumper of a registered truck or vehicle.

The special plate, supported by an online registry and a TruckSafe hotline, makes it simpler and easier to report unsafe driving incidents.

Road users can access the registry to identify the vehicle owner, and then contact the company directly to report the event or to file a complaint. Or they have the option to request TruckSafe to follow-up with the company involved.

“The identification plates program has proven effective in enabling the forest sector to selfmonitor and be more accountable for its driving performance,” said MaryAnne Arcand, Forestry TruckSafe director. “The online registry will give us an even better grip on unsafe driving. It can also be used as a way to highlight good driving records and safe operators behind the wheel.”

The Vehicle Identification Number Plates Program is voluntary, and has been widely
implemented in several regions of the province, including the Omineca, Bulkley-Nechako and North Thompson. Forestry TruckSafe would like to see it expanded provincewide to include other regions such as the Okanagan, Kootenays, and Vancouver Island.

There are roughly 5,000 vehicles currently registered in the program, ranging from pickups
to dump trucks to logging trucks. These vehicles belong to logging contractors, forests
companies, silviculturalists, the Ministry of Forests and Range, BC Timber Sales, the Ministry of Environment, road maintenance crews and First Nations, as well as other stakeholders with small fleets of forestry vehicles.